Florida Governor declared a state of emergency following a significant leak at a large sewage storage pond that threatened to flood roads and burst a system that stores contaminated water
MIAMI – Florida government Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday after a significant leak in a large pond of sewage threatened to flood roads and burst a system that stores contaminated water.
Florida officials ordered more than 300 homes to be evacuated and a freeway shut off Saturday near the large reservoir in the Tampa Bay region north of Bradenton.
Residents living around the Piney Point Reservoir received a text message warning to leave the area immediately as the collapse was “imminent.” Authorities expanded the evacuation area to include more houses later Saturday, but said they had no plans to open shelters.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says a fracture was found on one of the walls of a 33-acre pond with a depth of 8 meters and millions of gallons of water containing phosphorus and nitrogen on Friday. from an old phosphate factory.
Officials brought in stones and materials to plug the hole in the pond late Friday to Saturday, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
Manatee County administrator Scott Hopes said at a news conference Saturday that the most pressing concern is that water could flood the area, which he says is agricultural and has a low population density.
“We’re talking about the potential of about 600 million gallons (2.3 billion liters) in a matter of seconds and minutes, getting out of that collection pool and going around the area,” said Hopes.
Workers have pumped thousands of gallons per minute onto the site to reduce volume in case the pond bursts. Inflating the entire pond would take 10 to 12 days. Others have worked to map the path to determine how the water flows from the pond to the Tampa Bay.
DeSantis’ state of emergency is allocating more pumps and faucets to the area. The owner, HRK Holdings, did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The pond where the leak was discovered is located by the old Piney Point Phosphate Mine, which is in a pile of phosphogypsum, a waste product from fertilizer production that is radioactive. It contains small amounts of naturally occurring radium and uranium, and the stacks can also release large concentrations of radon gas.
Hopes says that if the pond collapses, there is a risk that it could destabilize the walls of other parts of the plant.
“The pond is actually salt water. We saw ducks yesterday, there are snooks swimming in them. It preserves wildlife. That’s not the case for the other two pools, ”he said, while adding the wastewater in the other ponds should be treated to reduce ammonium and other materials.
The executive order declaring a state of emergency said the ruptured structure contains 480 million gallons (1.8 billion liters) of sea water mixed with process water and the dike materials from the old fertilizer plant.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried in a letter urged the governor to convene an emergency session of the state cabinet to discuss a plan, adding that this property has seen similar leaks in the past.
“The immediate evacuation of residents, disruption of families over the Easter weekend, and potential environmental disasters require the attention and action of Florida statewide elected leadership,” Fried said.
In 2016, more than 200 million gallons of contaminated wastewater from another central Florida fertilizer plant leaked into one of the state’s major aquifers after a massive sinkhole formed in a pond from a phosphogypsum pile.
There are at least 70 plaster piles in the United States and about 27 in Florida, mostly in the west-central Florida region. The wastewater stored in the plaster piles cannot be seen from the ground, as the piles surrounding the structure can reach a height of 150 meters.